Rotary gas-engine.



C. C. SMILEY.

ROTARY GAS ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 13. 1911.

Patented Alig. 13, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I- z g wyw 1 Y 4 C. C. SMILEY.

} ROTARY GAS ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 13. 1911.

Patefited Aug. 13, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

C. C. SMILEY.

ROTARY GAS ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 13. 1911.

Patented Aug. 13, 1918.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

W/ 1. w W 6 CHARLES C. SMILEY, OF GARY, m'DIAIN'A.

noun! ens-Enema.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application med February 13, 1917. Serial Ro. 148,350.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLns C. Sammy, a citizen of the United States, residing at Gary, in the county of Lake and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and use- 'ful Improvements in Rotary Gas-Engines,

of which the following is a specification. v

The present invention has to do with certain improvements in rotary gas engines of that type in which a rotating eccentrically mounted or cam shaped member'cooperates with one or more slidable abutments against which the re-action is produced. 1

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a construction making use of this principle, and in which suitable compressors working on a similar principle are provided for compressing the charges of combustible mixturepreparatory to delivering the same to the working or firing chamber.

Another ob ect is to provide for a perfect control of the periodical delivery of the combustible mixture so compressed to the firing chamber and at the proper time interval and sequence to secure the maximum efiiciency and economy of operation.

Another feature of the invention has'reference to a simple construction and arrange construction and combinations of parts here-v inafter described and claimed.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 shows a cross section through the working or firing chamber, being a section on enlarged scale taken on the line 11 of Fig 2, looking in the direction of arrows; ig. 2 shows a plan sectional view taken through the central portion of the machine, showing the casings in section, and the operating parts in plan;

Fig. 3 shows a section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 4 shows a fragmentary side elevation of the machine being a side elevation of the central or wor chamber, one corner of the same being broken away in order to reveal the interior construction; and

Fig. 5 shows on enlarged scale, a detail cross-section through one of the valves 41 and 42 of Fig. 2, being a detail of a simple form of valve adapted to accomplish the desired result.

Referrin tothe several figures, the construction t erein illustrated includes the working chamber or element 5 in conjunct1on with a plurality of compressor cham-' bers. vIn'the particular construction illustrated, the working element is so designed as to secure two worlfing strokes or impulses per revolution. Consequently, in this par- Patented Aug. 13, 1918.

ticular construction I have illustrated two compressor chambers 6 and 7 suitably related to the working chamber 5 to take care of the compression of the explosive charges 1n the necessary manner. The working element 5 includes a circular or cylmdrlcal chamber 8 having the heads or end walls 9 and 10. The shaft 11 extends centrally throu h this cylindrical chamber and 1s gournale in the end walls in a suitable manner.

Mounted on the shaft within the chamber 8 is the eccentric or cam shaped member 12. This member occupies the entire distance between the head walls 9 and 10. Its working surface 13 is of cam shaped or similar formation, the inner and outer ends of the cam 'being connected b a radial portion 14. The

extreme outer e g'e 15 of the member 12 works nicely within the cylindrical chamber 8, so that gas under pressure against the radial portion 14 cannot pass said portion, but will exert an effective pressure thereagainst.

At each side'of the cylindrical chamber 8 there is a slotted openmg. [These slotted openings are diametrically opposite to each other and preferably lie within a horizontal plane which also includes the shaft of the machine. Through these slotted openings workthe abutments or blades 16 and 17. The working surface 18 of each blade is smooth and continuous, whereas its back surface 19 has its central portion reduced or cut away in the manner shown by the dotted lines particularly'of Fig. 1. The cutaway portions of the back sides of these blades serve to establish communication be- Ill in that figure. The blade 17 is already partially projected and consequently the gas is exhausting from the space above said blade by reason of the presence of the cutaway portion in its upper surface. When the member 12 rotates a slight additlonal distance in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1, the blade 16 will be projected a suiiicient amount to carry the recess on its under face into communication with the outside atmosphere, so that thereafter the gas may exhaust from the lower portion of the chamber.

Each of the blades 16' and 17 is provided with one or more rods or pins '20 on its outer end, which pins work within a guidebar 21 on the outer end of the posts 22' and 23. The spirals rings 24 tend to throw the blade mwar y and retain its inner edge in contact with the periphery of the member 12 at all times.

The compressor 6 delivers an ex losive charge adjacent to the blade 16, while the compressor 7 delivers its explosive charge adjacent to the blade 17. The construction of the compressor 6 which is typical of the compressor 7 is shown-in Fi 3. Each compressor has a rotating mem er 25 of form similar to the member 12, and each member 25 rotates within a cylindrical chamber 26'. The members 25 are mounted directly on the shaft ll-and rotate synchronously with the main driving member 12. The chief dif ference of interior construction between the compressors and the main working chamber is that each compressor is provided with only one blade 27. Carbureters 28 and 29 are connected onto the outside walls of the compressors and deliver explosive gas into the compressors by way of the ports 30. Considering the compressor 6, its port 30 is located just above its blade 27 in substantially the position shown by the dotted circle 30 of Fig. 3. Onthe inside wall of the com pressor 6 is a discharge port 31. The inlet port 30 is located just above the position of the blade 27, whereas the discharge port 31 is located just below the position of said blade. Consequently, the member 25 rotating in the direction of the arrow in Fig.3, will be compressing the gas contained in the space 32 which communicates with the discharge port 31, and will simultaneously be drawing a fresh charge of explosive gas through the port 30 into the space 33. When the radial face 34 of the member 25 reaches the position of the blade 27, the first mentionedcharge of gas will-have been completely delivered and the member 25 will then commence to deliver the second mentioned charge out through the port 31 under compression. Thus this compressor will deliver one complete charge of compressed gas for each revolution of the shaft.

In the end walls of the working member 5 drical chamber 8 immediately. below the blade 17 as shown by the dotted circle in Fig. 1, and the port 36 communicates with the space within said chamber immediately above the blade 16, as shown in Fig. 1. The discharge port 31 of the compressor 6 communicates with the inlet port 35 of the chamber 8 by a pipe 37, and the discharge port 31 of the'compressor 7 communicates with the inlet port 36 of the chamber 8 bythe pipe 38. Each of these pipes or connections is of suflicient volume or capacity I to carry the compressed charge of explosive mixture under the pressure to which it is compressed, or at a higher pressure, and to hold said charge after it has been compressed and preparatory to its delivery into' the working chamber. The checkvalves 39 and 40 are placed in the connections 37'. and 38 adjacent to the ports 31, said check valves serving to permit the compressed gas to enter the pipes or connections but preventing any back fiowfrom them. The valves 41 and 42 in the connections 37 and 38 adjacent to the ports 35 and 36 respectively serve to control the delivery of the.

compressed charges from the pipes or connections 37 and 38 into theworking chamber 8. In Fig. 5 I have shown in detail, a

simple form of valve suitable for use in the connections 37 and 38. These valves 41 and 42 may be of any convenient form, but the construction illustrated particularly in Fig. 5 is one whose operation is automatically controlled by the rotation of the shaft 11. For this purpose said shaft carries the arms or fingers 43 and 44 which periodically trip the valves 41 and 42 to open them momentarily, whereupon they immediately close. The arrangement is such that, as soon-as the member 12 reaches a position approximating that shown in Fig. 1, the valve 42 opens to permit a charge to enter through the port 36, whereupon the valve 42 immediately closes, and is such that when the member 12 reaches a position diametricallyopposite to that shown in Fig.1, the valve 41 opens momentarily to permit a charge of gas to enter the chamber 8'through the port 35, whereupon said valve 41 immediately ing 48. The gate 47 is provided with a stem 49 having the rack 50 on one of its faces. A stub shaft 51 is journaled within the casing and has a pinion 52 meshing with the rack 50. On the stub shaft is mounted a pinadapted to be struck or engaged by the pin or finger 43 or 44 as the case may be, during the rotation of the main shaft. A spring 53 acts to restore the gate valve to the closed position as soon as the finger 43 or 44: ceases to engage the pin on the shaft 51. Therefore the action of this valve will be to momentarily open and permit the passage of gas only during such momentary opening. Manifestly, any other suitable form of valve may be used, and I have shown the particular form of valve only as a -matter of convenience, and not in any sense by way of-limitation.

I desire to point out the fact that, with the type of compressor herein illustrated,

the gas may be compressed in a very economical manner, and that the amount or degree of compression may be made very high. Furthermore, the compression of the gas by a compressor of this type is uniform and continuous u to the desired pressure, and the length 0 the compression stroke is substantially equal to the circumference or periphery of the casing of the compressor.

While I have herein shown and described only a single form of construction embodying the features of my invention, still I do I combination of a cylindrical working chamnot intend to limit myself to the said form, except as I may do so in the claims.

I claim:

1. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a central cylindrical working chamber, a cylindrical compression chamber adjacent to each end thereof, a common shaft extending axially through all of the chambers, a cam shaped driving member mounted on the shaft within the working chamber and having a radial working face, a pair of diametrically opposite blades slidably mounted in the walls of the working chamber, springs tending to carry said blades inwardly toward the axis of the chamberfta cam shaped member mounted on the sha within each of the compression chambers, a radial blade slidably mounted in the wall of each of said chambers, springs tending to carry said blades inward toward the axis of rotation, gas pressure connections from the compression chambers to diametrically opposite portions of the working chamber, and valves in said connections operable accordin to the rotation of the shaft for momentar' y establishing communication between the gas pressure connections and the working chamber.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination of a central working chamber, a compression chamber adjacent to each end thereof, a common shaft extending through all of said chambers, a cam shaped working member mounted on the shaft within the working chamber, a pair of diametrically opposite radial slidable blades in the walls 0 the working chamber, a cam shaped compression member within each of the compression chambers, a 'radial slidable blade within the wall of each compression chamber, a gas pressure connection from each compression chamber to the interior of the working chamber at a point just beyond the corresponding blade .in thedirection of r0 tation, a valve in each of said connections, and means for momentarily actuating each valve for the purpose of momentarily establishing communication between the corresponding gas pressure connection and the working 0 amber.

3. In a, device of the class described, the

' sure connection'from the compression 0 amber to the interior of the working chamber at a point beyond the blade thereof in the direction of rotation, a valve in said connection, and means for momentarily opening said valve at the desired point in the cycle of movements.

QHARLES O. SMILEY. 

